Title: Becoming Real
Author: Carol A. Clarke
Email: Carol.Clarke@mail.state.ky.us

Chapter 9
Bent


Buffy had been watching the blond all day. She looked oddly familiar but Buffy couldn’t place her. The slayer just hoped she wasn’t one of the nameless people she had slept with when her lust was out of control. It was at times like this Buffy was incredibly grateful to Willow and her whip. Buffy took a deep breath and let her favorite images of Willow in Leather with her trusty whip at her side wash over her. Well it was about time to change her underwear again anyway she thought.

“Honey is there something I can help you with or are you going to spend the whole day at the gallery’s front window.” Joyce asked her daughter.

“Have you had lunch yet mom?”

“Not yet dear, just exactly what are you doing?” Joyce asked as she watched her daughter’s eyes following a woman on the street.

“Tailing someone who has just gone into Mr. Wong’s restaurant for lunch. Let me take you out and you can be my cover. Besides it’s been awhile since we went to lunch together.”

“So is she a vampire dear.” Joyce whispered to her daughter over kang po chicken.

“Daylight mom, and I am pretty sure she is human.” Buffy said before taking a bite of lo mien. She didn’t need to eat but she found it made people uncomfortable when she didn’t at least pretend to eat with them.

“She isn’t one of your special friends honey?” Joyce asked a little concerned. Joyce knew all about her daughter’s addictions but somewhere along the way Joyce had moved into a kind of strange state of denial. Joyce accepted Willow as her daughter-in-law. Was even happy about their marriage. But after that Joyce had her own special way of dealing with things. Tara was Willow’s “Special Friend” and no matter how many times Buffy pointed out that she married Tara too, Joyce would just smile and Tara would be back to being Willow’s ‘special friend.’

At least her mom was constant, the couples that Buffy saw outside of her marriage Joyce also referred to them as “Buffys special friends.” Oddly Joyce called Duncan either her daughters “friend” or by name, though Joyce tended to treat Duncan more as a child most of the time. At Christmas time she spoiled the girl buying her toys and presents. Buffy jokingly would refer to Duncan during the holidays as ‘the granddaughter her mother never had.’

“I don’t even know her mom.” Buffy answered back and when her mother gave her, the patented mothers raised eyebrow, Buffy added. “You know I don’t see anyone that Willow doesn’t approve first.”

“Then why are you following her.” Joyce asked hoping her daughter would not go into anymore explanations of her relationships. It was bad enough having to eat lunch with her daughter while she spent the whole meal playing teenage sex kitten. Buffy was practically holding up a sigh that said, “I want you now” aimed right at the strange woman’s line of sight.

“She used Duncan to send me a message. I just don’t know if she meant to send it to me or to a master vampire.” Buffy explained.

“Did she hurt Duncan?” Joyce asked concerned. Joyce had grown to love the girl as much as she loved Buffy or Willow. Joyce still held Tara in the same category as Xander, she loved the girl but she didn’t see her as family yet.

“Roughed her up a little but she is ok, mostly her pride is hurt.” Buffy had wanted to add the part about the way the message was sent but left it out. Just as she left out any comparisons about how she had ‘roughed the girl up’ after she got the message. Duncan still couldn’t sit down without moaning in discomfort.

“So then why are you flirting with the woman, honey.” Joyce asked after another bite. She couldn’t fathom what her daughter was up too but she knew her daughter had been flirting with the woman across the room since they had sat down at the table.

“It’s called undercover, mom, besides she is cute.” Buffy answered before winking at the pissed off blond and taking another bite. She really was enjoying the woman’s reactions to her flirting.

“I will never understand you. You have Willow, who I love and adore; I could not wish for a better daughter-in-law. And you have Duncan and Tara. So do you really need to…” Joyce stopped as the woman walked right past their table and then stopped and paid her bill at the front cash register.

“Thanks mom.” Buffy said as her whole body language changed. Buffy was back to slayer mode and out of whore mode.

“You really were undercover.” Joyce stated reading her daughters' face.

“Yeah, I wanted to she if see knew who I was, flirting seemed to be the easiest way to find out.” Buffy explained. Buffy had learned a long time ago to read peoples reactions to her flirting. It was a survival skill for a sex addict like herself.

“So who is she dear?”

“I don’t know yet but I am going to find out tonight. Mom thanks again. Are you still coming over for Sunday diner this weekend? Duncan would love to see you. So would Tara and Will.”

“Of coarse honey, I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” Joyce said while she continued to wonder what her daughter was up against now.

Buffy was surprised to find the woman was staying in Faith’s old room. She was also a little surprised to find out the women was a cop. The nice thing about living in a small town and having a reputation was that people would rather give you, lets say, a motel room key than to let you break down the door to get in. Philip didn’t have any problems handing over the spare key to her.

So when the good detective left the room for another reckey of the park, Buffy riffled through her stuff. Then she made a few phone calls charged to the motel room phone. Between Willow’s office computer and Cornelia Chase’s Psychic Friends helpline Buffy had all the information she needed to know. At least now she knew why the woman looked familiar. Buffy could just barely remember the rude detective who took Faith’s confession.

Thinking of Faith and being in her old room brought back a lot of memories. Closing her eyes and letting herself remember the few tender moments the two girls had before events went terrible wrong, Buffy wrapped her arms around herself and forced herself to fall into an un-needed sleep. Sometimes it was nice to just let yourself dream from time to time.

Faith had whipped her with her own belt and now she was flat on her back with Faith on top of her. Faith always liked to be on top. Needed to be on top. Even when she licked the brunettes sweet little pussy she had to be on her knees as Faith stood above her. Not that she minded. She liked being a bottom, being submissive. Buffy grunted as Faith slide the biggest dildo that she had ever seen hard inside her tight back door. She was still so terrified after Angel to be ridden any other way. She wanted Faith to touch her clit but she knew that Faith would only touch her if she didn’t ask for it. Faith definitely had some strange ideas about sex. Buffy was lost in her dreaming memories of Faith when she was heard the click of the detectives gun.

Pretending to sleep Buffy just lay flat on the bed letting the detective move closer. This had been her plan all along. When Kate was close enough, Buffy moved with the speed of her inner angel. Without opening her eyes she grabbed Kate’s wrist and flipped her onto the bed. In the next second Buffy had tossed the gun to the side and was sitting across Kate’s chest. Buffy had a little chuckle at the position she was in and how close it was to the one Faith had her in during her dream memory.

“I believe you sent me a message? Something about a challenge?” Buffy said with a smile as she tied Kate’s hands to the headboard. The move brought back more memories of things Faith did to her.

“You’re the girl from the restaurant today. The one with her mother.” Kate answered.

“That would have been me undercover. I was good wasn’t I?” Buffy joked, liking the feel of the woman beneath her. Somehow she just knew that she was going to be sore as hell over this woman and she liked that idea. It had been a few weeks since Willow had taken her bullwhip to her backside.

“So it was your Reinfield I jumped the other day?” Kate asked wanting to get down to business.

“And if you even touch a hair on her head again trust me, I am going to personally return your cucumber. You didn’t have to hurt her you know.” Buffy said seriously.

“Like you don’t. I know what you things do to Reinfields. Hell I even know most of the bug eating slugs actually like what you do to them.” Kate spat back fighting against her bounds and trying to buck Buffy off her lap.

“Kind of liberal with the ‘them’ ‘you things’ terms aren’t ya.” Buffy said sliding off the detective and stretching out beside her.

“Just get it over with bitch.” Kate said.

“You sent me the message. I was just trying to mind my own business and since I know Duncan has never done a harmful thing in her life I am going out on a limb and saying, this time I think you are the bad guy detective.” Buffy stated. She knew what she said wasn’t exactly true but she wanted to see what the woman did with her statement.

“Who the hell is Duncan?” Kate asked. She had a pretty good guess already she just wanted more time to think.

“Duncan, the girl you kicked around and then used as a message service. She is my friend and my Reinfield and I meant what I said about hurting her again.” Buffy smiled patiently.

“Your friend, you’re kidding right?” Kate said as she tried again to pull at her bonds.

“ I care a great deal about Duncan, she is special and funny and sweet and a great lover and I wouldn't be alive now without her and my wives. In short I love her.” Kate just stared at Buffy like she had lost her mind. Buffy just smiled back.

“The other day I was speaking to the vessel of a misunderstood Hindu goddess and she told me that love can save anyone given time.” Buffy said as the women continued to just stare at her.

“You have to be the slayer?” Kate finally said. “I didn't realize you were all out of your minds.”

Buffy reached over and untied Kate saying, “You really can’t judge all of us by Faith. She had a rougher life than most of us.” Buffy then sat up Indian style on the bed.

“So who were you trying to piss off because that little Van Helsing method of calling out master vampires doesn’t normally work all that well for slayers. It really doesn’t work well for non-slayers.” Buffy explained.

“Actually I was looking for you.” Kate answered rubbing her newly freed wrists.

“And you couldn’t just ask Faith to get a hold of me?” Buffy asked still not happy about this. Kate’s methods were the last way in hell one should try and find a slayer.

“Faith told me she didn’t know who you were. Strangely I believed her at the time. I think I am going to have to re-think a lot of things Faith has told me over the years.”

“I wouldn’t bother. Faith doesn’t really have a total grip on reality. Hasn’t in years and she is dying. She has maybe two, three years tops before her body gives out. Plus she tends to be a little over protective of me. Slayer thing. Still the cucumber wasn’t really necessary.” Buffy said sternly.

“It got your attention.” Kate stated.

“Detective, I am a slayer, I have to answer pleas for help. That is my job. I have to fight the forces of evil. I do not have to indulge suicide challenges and that is what you sent me. You want to die pull the trigger yourself.” With that Buffy bounced over the bed and picked up the gun and tossed it into Kate’s lap.

“Bitch” Kate screamed picking up the gun.

“I left my card on the bedside table. You want to send me another message call me.” Buffy said walking out the door. She didn’t flinch when she heard the bullet whiz past her head and blow a whole in the wall. Smiling she shut the door and went to find her car, her pussy needed attention.

Buffy picked Duncan off of the floor where she had fallen asleep and gently placed her between the sleeping witches. Returning a minute later she covered the girl with a blanket and put Mr. Dragon beside her. She then moved over and kissed first Tara and then Willow goodnight. Her family had each in turn made tender love to her after she returned from her encounter with Kate.

There had been something so broken about the detective. Something so lost it reminded her of herself after she had sent Angel to hell. She moved to take a quick shower but her thoughts kept returning to the detective. Her slayer senses were ringing like crazy.

Buffy dressed and took off to make her midnight appointment with Kate. Arriving at the park she wondered why she was surprised to see the blond sitting in the middle of the park. She let her eyes follow the line of defenses the officer had set up during the day. Three crossbow mounted on trees with string pulled triggers wasn’t really that much defense against a real master vampire. Not that Kate had to worry about that right now.

She was calmly sitting in the middle of a park bench as two Azure snapping demons circled her. It was clear that Kate had no plans of pulling the strings or using her gun. Suicide was really her goal Buffy realized as memories of doing something almost as stupid in a San Francisco Park after Angel went to hell came to her mind.

Buffy ran straight at the demons. Using her sword she beheaded the first. The second seeing it’s partner dead turned to run. Buffy grabbed one of Kate’s strings and fired the crossbows into it.

“I suppose you want me to be grateful. Well fuck you.” Kate screamed angrily.

Buffy didn’t give the cop time to answer. She slugged her knocking out cold. “Maybe later.”

“And why exactly are we kidnapping a cop again?” Willow asked for the tenth time. She was not loving this plan.

“We're not kidnapping her. We're just keeping her tied up for a while.” Buffy said.

“Buffy that is kidnapping.” Willow explained.

“We are only keeping her tied up until she comes to her senses.” Buffy replied

“And what if she doesn’t come to her senses.” Tara asked while she put ice on the bump on Kate's head.

“The goddess said that given enough time love can save anyone.” Buffy said with great authority.

“Well the goddess is out of her mind half the time.” Willow said only to have her wives stare at her.

“Oh great cultists.” Kate said waking up.

“Careful” Tara said gently helping Kate to sit up. It was a hard thing to do the way Buffy had chained her to the floor. “Buffy if you are going to leave her down here you may want to just use one leg chain.” Tara said.

“What do you think Duncan, can she get to the bathroom and move around enough to kept from getting stiff the way she is now or do you think we should take the arm and second leg chain off?” Buffy asked the girl.

“I could get around the dungeon fine like that but I am not human. I don’t know how your muscles feel. It depends mostly on how much she fights it.” Duncan explained.

“Great imprisonment by committee.” Kate said shoving Tara hard out of her way and getting to her feet.

“Kate this is my family. This is my first wife Willow and this is my second wife Tara. You have met our Reinfield Duncan. Now I think we should leave our prisoner alone for a while. There is food beside your mat. All the water you can drink. As long as you don’t twist the chains up too much you can reach the bathroom. I’ll check on you later.” Buffy said as she herded them out of the dungeon.

Buffy’s back was itching and burning. Willow had used a wicked combination of salt and magic to make her back heal slowly after she whipped her hard. Of course the fact she had soaked Willows face with her come afterwards was the reason for her present smile so it balanced out.

Not that she wouldn’t have been smiling anyway. She enjoyed her Wednesday afternoons with Martha Williamson. Martha was actually helping her by listening. By being a non-sex partner friend. Something outside of Xander and Giles she didn’t have. Still her back was itching and aching and she was having trouble sitting still because of it.

“Is there some reason why you’re wiggling around?” Martha asked

“Willow and I got a little carried away again. She used a nasty little spell that is itching a little I am sorry.” Buffy said as she willed herself to sit still.

“Duncan has been having that same problem at school.”

“Yeah, I have been spanking her a lot lately.”

“Why, did she do something wrong?” Martha asked a little concerned.

“No, not Duncan, this is going to be a long story. Which means it requires another history lesson.”

“I am all ears.” Martha said settling into her chair.

“Something in the Middle Ages in Bavaria there was a family of rich people. They were Barons or Dukes or something. Their village had been over run by vampires and the slayer was to young and week to deal with the problem. So the family, the Van Helzigs, took it upon themselves to fight the vampires. Which was of the good.”

“The vampires were killed and people were saved. Only the Van Helzigs didn’t let it end there. They began traveling the countryside looking for master vamps to stake. Oddly they weren’t interested in fledglings they just wanted the master vamps. So they developed this method of challenging master vampires to duels. Remember it was the Middle Ages. First they would seek out the vampire’s Reinfields during the daylight.

Reinfield bug hunt for food during the daylight. They also will not fight back generally. So they are easily marks.”

“Anyway, the Van Helzigs would find a Rienfield, beat it senseless, rape it, then just to piss the vampire off, they would cut open a cucumber or some other vegetable or fruit and put a written message on cloth inside the vegetable. Then they would tie the cucumber back together and shove it up the Rienfield’s ass.”

“There is a point your getting to and I am guessing I am not going to like it.” Martha said

“No, I didn’t like it either. Anyway back to present day, some crazy vigilant bent on I don’t know what found the story. And she also found Duncan. Actually I have been kind of worried about Duncan. She isn’t acting right. Not purring that much.”

“And this thing was done to Duncan?” Martha asked with a lot of fear in her voice.

“Cucumber with challenge where the sun doesn’t shine, nose broken, kicked a lot, but she wasn’t raped.”

“Is Duncan ok?”

“She is a Reinfield, A day and half and she didn’t have a mark on her.”

“Still she must be upset and that still doesn’t explain why she has not been sitting in class though.”

“When she is upset or insecure, she likes to be spanked. Weird I know. But hugging her and saying I love you just isn’t enough. I have to back it up with my belt.”

“And Willow has to back it up with her bullwhip I am guessing?”

“Something like that.”

“So what happened to the woman that attacked Duncan. Duncan actually told me about someone breaking her nose. She missed a day or two of school because of it.” Buffy smiled hearing Martha’s statement. Willow had called Martha the day it happened and put Duncan on the phone. Willow hated for Duncan to miss any school.

“Yeah, but outside of her nose and a few bruises her pride was the only victim. This time. Duncan was actually lucky.”

“What about the attacker?”

“Funny you should mention that, she is chained up in the dungeon.”

“You’re kidding right.” Martha said with alarm.

“Wish I was, I kind of wanted to talk to you about it. The woman is a cop. Or was a cop, she quit her job, sold everything she had and moved to Sunnydale. Her father was killed by vampires. Anyway since her dad died she has been on this mission to kill anything supernatural. Mostly she has been lucky she isn’t dead or one of them. She is like this big ball of hate. So somehow, and I don’t know how, she found out there was a slayer in Sunnydale. Since she put another slayer in jail, Faith, I have told you about her, she knows about slayers.”

“From what I have found out she came to Sunnydale to find out what her friend was calling a slayer and once here she found out it was demon central. And that is were it gets fuzzy. She starts doing this Van Helzig thing. Duncan was the third Reinfield she attacked. Somehow she managed to kill off one Traicia Demon and beat up a Succubus before she challenged me.”

“And then you chained her up in the basement?”

“No then I broke into her motel room. Found out who she was, had Willow check her out on the computer and had another friend do a little special checking. Then I waited for her to get back. Had a little talk with her and left. I didn’t think I would ever see her again. Then my spider senses started buzzing. They told me I needed to keep our midnight appointment. Which was a good thing for her. She was about to get eaten by two nasty blue Azure demons.”

“So why exactly is she chained up again?”

“Ok this is the weird part. She told me she was looking for me when I talked to her in her room. But Van Helzig method of demon challenge isn’t what you do when you want to talk to someone. And keeping an appointment once the other party turns you down isn’t smart either. She was trying to kill herself. And that is why she is chain up in my dungeon.”

“Wouldn’t getting her medical treatment be better?” Martha asked alarmed.

“Normally I would say yes, but she knows the system and she knows what is behind the curtain, what goes bump in the night. If I left her loose she might kill herself sure, but the way she is going about it she would differently hurt someone else in the process. Probably not a human but an innocent something. Like Duncan or the Succubus she beat up. Almost killed. I am not even sure she realizes she was trying to kill herself.”

“Then why do you think she is?”

“After I sent Angel to hell. My life felt like it was over. I had lost everyone but Duncan. So I packed up, took Duncan and left town. I was Seventeen, Duncan was two. We were just two runaways wondering the streets. Finally I dropped Duncan off with my friend Pike. Then I started doing stupid things. Dangerous things. I wouldn’t have been able to admit it at the time but I was trying to kill myself. I couldn’t take my own life but it was ok if the demon bastards did. I think I was half hoping I would go to hell so I could be near Angel.”

“Buffy that is all well and good, but you can’t just leave this woman chain up in your basement. What do you plan to do with her?”

“Save her if I can? Help her. It’s not an accident she is here. I have dreamed about her before. Slayer dreams. I promise I will not hurt Kate. Well unless she wants me too.” Buffy said laughing at her own joke.

“Kate?”

“Yeah, that is her name.”

“Kate Lockley?” Martha asked standing straight up.

“Yes, do you know her?”

“My husband called her to find out if she ever heard of a slayer.”

“How stupid of me. I should have know that was the connection.”

“Buffy I want to see her now.”